How Many Books Is Too Many Books?

Nicola here, and today I'm asking the provocative question "how many books is too many books"? And as a follow up to that: "What system do you use to categorise your bookshelves?" You see, I need help and advice. The time has finally come to sort out my “library.” This is rather a grand term for a muddled collection of books on shelves, in boxes and in stacks on the floor all over the house with only a notional system of what is where. For years I’ve been saying I need some sort of cataloguing system, yet each time I sit down with my books to try to categorise them, I either get distracted into reading something I had forgotten was there or I am so overwhelmed by the hugeness of the task that I retreat and close the door on the mess. There are obvious downsides to this, most annoyingly the fact that I can’t find half the books I know are there and when I need them for research – or to re-read a favourite novel – I’ll spend ages huffing around looking for them. Also, I have been known on more than one occasion to buy multiple copies of things just because I didn’t realise/remember they were already in my collection. So a neatly-ordered bookshelf is crucial.

How many other people suffer, like me, from “Tsundoku”? This is a Japanese term for someone who possesses a lot of unread literature. According to an
article on the BBC website a few years ago, the word “doku” can be used as a verb to mean “reading” whilst the word “tsun” originates from “tsumu” meaning to pile up. Which is literally what we are doing with our TBR piles. We have reading material piling up. It’s not a new word or a new concept; the first reference appears in a Japanese text from 1879.

I have a complete inability to walk past a bookshop, especially an antiquarian one, without popping in and buying at least one book. It’s as though there’s a huge book magnet dragging me in. And for me, the more intriguing-sounding and obscure the book, the better. Or perhaps I’ll just see a beautiful cover and be drawn to how pretty it is, and before I know it there are another half dozen books on my pile. And that’s before we get on to new recommendations for history and fiction books which only add to my outrageous wishlist… This apparently is fully-fledged Tsundoku.

Then there is “bibliomania.” Bibliomania is the title of a 19th century novel by Thomas Frognall Dibdin which claimed to explore "book madness", defined as the act of being unable to stop collecting literature. By his definition, those afflicted with bibliomania were obsessed with unique books such as first editions and illustrated copies rather than books in general, but these days the term is applied to those who have a more general "passionate enthusiasm" for collecting. Bibliomania describes the intention to create a book collection, tsundoku describes the intention to read books and their eventual, accidental collection. Either way, it’s considered a form of madness!

Is this fair? I don’t think so. At heart I’m someone who loves having books around me and I know I’m not alone in that. I love the feel of them and the smell of them. I love discovering and re-discovering them. So to the minimalists who suggest that you should have no more than 30 books that are “beneficial” to your life, I say sorry, that’s never going to cut it for me. For me the first big question is “is it okay to keep books on my shelves even if I know in my heart of hearts that I’m unlikely ever to read them?” Is it weird just to want to possess them?! If the answer to that question is “no, not at all weird, perfectly understandable and right,” this brings me back around to my original problem. How am I going to organise my shelves?

The stylists amongst us go for colour, size or some other visual arrangement. Whilst I love the look of these shelves and I think it works particularly well with novels, I can’t see colour coding helping me to find my way through a collection of two thousand plus books on everything from the history of peacocks to maps of Regency London.  So what am I to do? Follow a Dewey-type library classification system of top level for history and then maybe art, architecture, costume, food, children’s games, gardens, transport, etc? Or should I sort by country by historical era? Where do the historical biographies fit in? Under the appropriate century or a more specific heading? Should I scrap the whole idea and go alphabetical by author – or by subject? You can see why I look at the piles of books, my brain freezes and I shut the door.

So this is why I’m asking for help. How do you sort your bookshelves? Are you colour co-ordinated or alphabetical, library catalogued or joyfully random? Have you discovered or re-discovered a book on your shelves that has made you very happy? Do you have Tsunduko or bibliomania? And how do you organise your Kindle library? That’s a whole other discussion…

Comments

[Frasc]

I have my books divided by fiction and non-fiction. Within fiction I have them grouped by author. A major project getting them alphabetized, but a pleasure when finding or rediscovering favorites. I had plans to slim down the fiction because many of my favorites are also library eBooks. However what is available now is not necessarily available forever so having to rethink that. The non-fiction is grouped by general topic. There are bookcases in every room in my house, so I can designate a bookcase or room to a topic and know that I should start there. Good luck.

[Ragged]

My book collection is a live thing- constantly growing but also, dead wood goes. Books are live things in themselves, they need to be handled, read, enjoyed. I have thousands of books- and not much else! Due to fleeing domestic violence and several floods I have fewer books than I would have by choice. However, I have a children's collection, an alphabetical fiction collection where relevant non fiction works nestle along side novels- biographies, histories, essays etc as well as DVD adaptations. My non fiction collection is loosely Dewey Decimal based. If I am unlikely to reread a book or want a different edition, I will sell it on. I like all my books to be live stock - one's that I want to read again or share with another. I'm a great re-reader so I have to be able to lay my hand on a book when I want it.

[Teresa Broderick]

I would be of absolutely no help to you Nicola as I'm just like you! I tried once or twice to sort them out, got to maybe the second shelf, then found a book I hadn't read in ages and sat down to read it!!!!
I have books everywhere. My daughter only left home three years ago so most of hers are here too. My husband is also a reader. So shame on me but they'll be staying in the chaos they're in!
(I did group a few of the nonfiction together last year) :)

[Tim Illingworth]

Similar here:
Fiction is sorted by genre; novels/collections are alpha by author, while anthologies are alpha by title.
Non-fiction is less structured... sorted by main subject, secondary subject, and date of subject (so books on the American Revolution or WW2 naval history should be together). But there's a lot of sort by size and 'where is there room?' here.

Ebooks are a whole other thing...

[Mary Jo Putney]

Nicola--does anyone anywhere think 30 books are ENOUGH?!! Who's the mad person here?

Most of my non fiction library is in my office (all four walls) and is sorted by general subject. Medical books are in one moderate size bookcase, roughly sorted by historical and modern. Wellington and the Napoleonic wars more than occupy one of the tallest bookcases. (There is spill over to the next bookcase on the right.) Fiction is downstairs and more-or-less by genre and authors. I'm also trying to thin the herd, but it is NOT easy!

[Nicola Cornick]

Mary Jo, did you miss the Marie Kondo advice that people should have NO MORE than 30 books in their home? I really think she missed the point of having books completely.

It's tricky isn't it. There's always a reason NOT to get rid of a book, I find.

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Frasc, thank you for the designated room/bookcase idea. I think I'll try that. I haven't yet attempted to alphabetize the fiction books but the pleasure of being able to go straight to favorites must feel very special!

[Misti]

My library is sorted roughly by genre - meaning an author's books are together by genre. Nothing is alphabetical. What this means is that basically I am the only person who can find anything. My Heyer mysteries are not near my Heyer romances. :) My Kindle is just a huge mess. I don't keep multiple paper copies of books but I do have both paper and ebook versions of books. I have definitely bought a book, purged it, and then bought it again. I've just accepted the madness and learned to live with it.

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you for sharing. This is very interesting. I think I may be struggling with the idea of the dead wood even if though I know you are right. I love the idea of the the alphabetical fiction collection with relevant non-fiction nestled beside it - would love to browse your bookshelves!

[Nicola Cornick]

Ah Teresa, that does indeed sound so familiar! The determination when you set out and then you find a book that immediately catches your interest so you sit down to look at it...And I don't think there is anything wrong with having hundreds of books jumbled up together really - it's like a constant lovely surprise when you find different things!

[Nicola Cornick]

Tim, thank you. I'm going to try the main, secondary and date of subject system for my non-fiction. I think it may lead to some interesting juxtapositions.

[[email protected]]

Most of my books are fiction so I have the majority alphabetized by author last name. The others that are not fiction are mostly grouped by subject, such as gardening (most in one bookcase) and decorating (in another bookcase), etc. but it’s increasingly more difficult to find space for them all. If I find duplicates I try to donate them so I don’t have multiple copies. I have an app to try to keep track of what I already own so I don’t buy duplicates. I also keep a list of my husband’s books on google docs so I can see if he already owns a book as well, another list of books I have read and when alphabetized by author last name, as well as a list of books I own on kindle also alphabetized by author last name.

[Wendy]

Mine are sorted by author and I try to put the same/similar genres together in the same bookshelf. I also put the books that I tend to re-read or refer to more often at eye level and others up high. I’m short so getting to the top shelves requires a ladder!

[Nicola Cornick]

I think as long as you understand your own system - or can live with it - that's fine, isn't it?! My Heyer romances and mysteries are also shelved in different places.

[Nicola Cornick]

I am impressed by both the use of an app and the lists on google docs! My husband did suggest the other day that I should create a spreadsheet system for my books and this sounds an excellent idea.

[Nicola Cornick]

Wendy, that is an inspired idea of having the regular reads more accessible. Mind you, I do love the idea of needing a library ladder!

[Lauren Gilbert]

I have groupings of fiction and non-fiction-fiction books by author; non-fiction by subject (history, biography, antique cookbooks, fashion, etc). Unfortunately the groups are rather interspersed-some fiction between non-fiction sections. It seems to work, as I can find them. No such thing as too many (although I do thin occasionally as my taste changes or I need more space for research books).

[Karen]

Nicola, I'm firmly of the belief that there is no such thing as too many books! With over 16,000 in my Kindle collection & unknown number (so far) in the pbks, I'll never lack something to read, esp. since I love to reread favorites to the point that I should be able to quote them!

A while back, I decided to organize the pbks. I've given up just about all hardbacks; my hands don't enjoy holding them anymore. And some days, holding a pbk isn't much fun, esp in the beginning & ending areas. At any rate, I had bags & bags & a few boxes of pbks from trips to used book stores & oh way back when Borders still was around. I would buy authors that folks had mentioned in discussions thinking, give them a try! Then I got to wondering, how many duplicates between ebk & pbk existed in those bags/boxes...?

So I created a spreadsheet--my family swears I adore spreadsheets, but I've always found them a good organizing tool! Listed by author, last name first, then title, series, series #, year of publication, isbn (I'm also a librarian & know how essential that number is!), and final column; where the book is located! Bookcase #1 BR (bedroom) as that bookcase & #2 BR are organzied by authors--all my Nora Roberts/JD Robbs together, Krentz/Quick/Castle together, Elizabeth Lowell/Ann Maxwell, & so on. These are the authors that I have both pbk & ebks, often both.

Other locations: Big Black HPB bag, B & W Composition Bag, Dark Green HPB Bag, Dark Blue Honda bag...and so on. I have a lot of shopping bags & Half Price Books sells bags that are very good for holding paperbacks--just the right width!

I am mostly fiction, but do have some non-fiction, mostly for stitching--styles & stitches, depression glass, other hobbies. I've not started listing them yet, but all the patterns that I've purchased & hope to one day stitch are in a spreadsheet listing which file in the filing cabinet or if kitted, where in a cabinet, etc, plus threads, fabrics, beads, etc That's another large spreadsheet with some ways to go yet!

I hope you've gotten some help out of all the great suggestions I see folks entering here but yes, it's way easy to pick up a title to enter & getting sucked into it...probably why I'll be doing this for a long time to come! Enjoy!

[Marilyn Forsyth]

Hi Nicola! Too many books? What a wonderful 'problem' to have. ;). I'm with you regarding being unable to go past an antiquarian bookshop without going in and buying at least one book. As for organising my bookshelves, I have to admit I enjoy the chaos. Searching through them for the book I'm after leads to many fabulous re-discoveries.

[A.R.]

I'm an academic librarian in my day job, so that may skew things! As with many above, I separate fiction and non-fiction (for which there is a LONG tradition in various library systems). My fiction are arranged by size (hardback/trade separate from mass market) and then author. I don't have quite so many non-fiction (probably because as an academic librarian I do have regular access to them at work). However--in addition I maintain a spreadsheet listing all my fiction titles (electronic as well as hardcopy) and including the criteria that matter to me. There are websites/apps that will do this (LibraryThing was an early starter), but none had quite the mix of criteria that I wanted and was willing to invest in putting together. The start-up work is intensive, but there's nothing like being able to put one's hand on the books one wants when one wants them. (I might have even included box identification information in the spreadsheet when I last moved across the country to ensure that I'd be able to do this since I knew I'd be in temporary housing and unwilling to unpack ALL the boxes for 6-12 months). Good luck!

[Leslie V Knowles]

I made a data base (you can use a spread sheet the same way) and inventoried all our general non-fiction works using the Dewey system (the assigned number is usually somewhere near the ISBN) and then stuck numbered stickers on the spine for the broad topic (900 history / 700 for art,etc) and shelved the books with by sticker group. They are shelved in my husband's office. My writing reference books are shelved by topic also, but refined to my way of thinking-- Craft (plot, characterization, setting, etc.), Historical reference (military, political, arts and sciences, exploration, etc). Fiction by author groups in the guest room, family room, and living room bookcases. When I need to make room (and sacrifice a book to the space gods) I like to donate them to the local library so I know where I can visit them as needed. BTW, I've just spent the last week sorting out just my worktable in the office and it will be at least another two before I'll be reasonably organized. Good luck. And NO there is no such thing as too many books... just not enough space or hours in a day.

[Becke Martin Davis]

We've moved several times in the past decade or so, and every time we move we have a book clearout. Despite this, we had 70 cartons of books on our last move and it would be probably 100 or more if we moved again. My husband has two tall bookcases of "his" books (meditation, theology, philosophy and world religions) - one in our bedroom and one in our walk-in closet. When the elementary school requested book donations for kids, we filled a big bin with several hundred children's books and we still have four small bookcases filled with them. I have two bookcases with history and travel books, including Chicago history, and books about the UK. I have another two bookcases with landscape and plant books and books related to genealogy. One full bookcases of books by and related to Agatha Christie. Two bookcases with books by favorite authors, another with romance paperbacks, two more with mystery/thrillers/romantic suspense and a small bookcase of old poetry books. Countless bins of books waiting to be read - and I DO reread my other books, too. I average a book a day. Like you, I can't go past a bookstore without bringing home a couple more books. My favorite? Library sales!

[Kareni]

I have about 8000 items on my Kindle and must rely on my (admittedly poor) memory to find anything there!

As for paper books, I can generally find what I want. I have a few shelves of favorites old and new that are primarily sorted by type: historical romances, comtemporary,paranormal, R-rated, space opera, etc. Those shelves have books by given authors gathered together. I also have a shelf of books that are likely book group reads. My small non-fiction book collection is on a different shelf.

So long as you can navigate between your bookshelves and piles of books, Nicola, I think you are fine!

[Nicola Cornick]

As long as the system works for the person whose library it is, I think that's the main thing isn't it. Our minds all work differently so that what may seen logical to one person isn't to another, but that doesn't matter - they are our books!

[Nicola Cornick]

Wow, Karen, what a great and efficient system. I can see that a spreadsheet is the way to go, if only I liked them! Being a librarian is clearly a huge advantage here. My collection seems cast in the shade by your library. It sounds to me that there is some Tsundoku there or definitely bibliomania in the best way - a total passion for books!

[Nicola Cornick]

Marilyn, it's so nice to hear someone who is comfortable with the chaos! Definitely it does have its advantages. The joy of discovery or re-discovery is lovely!

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you! Another vote for the spreadsheet option. I am really appreciating this advice from everyone and the professional input from librarians is invaluable. This system is most impressive and actually I am inspired to push past the initial intensive work just so I can enjoy it!

[Nicola Cornick]

Oh, I love the idea of the numbered stickers on the spine. Yes! Thank you, I am going to do that. I'm so grateful to everyone sharing their great iseas and systems.

[Nicola Cornick]

What a truly wonderful collection, Becke! Just reading about it makes me want to browse it. It also makes me happy that there is such a community of like-minded people who adore their book collections and love library sales and bookshops so much.

[Nicola Cornick]

Kareni, my mind is boggling simply trying to imagine your Kindle library! But it's all about being comfortable with your collections, isn't it, and I do love mine so I'm sure you're right - it's fine!

[Marianne McA]

I did do the colour thing about eight/nine years ago. My daughter needed a lot of red books for a school assignment, and after I had pulled them out, I started wondering if I could make a rainbow.
Not enough books have lilac spines, though!

Because I don't do TBR, I only keep books that I reread, and I do have a fairly good visual memory for books. Trouble is when you're looking for a book that you know in your soul is blue, and it is not to be found. After a frustrating half-hour, it inevitably proves to be mostly blue, yes, but with a snazzy contrasting yellow spine. (Or occasionally non-corporeal and stashed on page 17 of the kindle.)

So, in the recent reshelve, I have abandoned colour, apart from a notional white column of books under a plaster bust that we have to keep because my grandad made it at art school. Don't really have a system though - I'd keep all books by an author or on a subject together, but that's about it.
I have, and this won't help you organise at all - but it's fun - started making a shelf of books with ominous titles, because all the kids looked askance when we built a shelf over a doorway. So now all the books on it have titles like 'Panic!' or 'Menace' or 'This is Going to Hurt.'

[Janice Millford]

YIKES!! I know this issue and I own my chaos! I file by author into subjects, i.e. Fantasy, Ancient Greece/Rome, British history and so on. And yet I still "lose" books that are misfiled and heavens--have been moved by others!! I finally decided to embrace the mess and just explore my hoard, but I hear you about bookstores! My husband and I first look up where the bookstores are in any city/town we intend to visit. We once did a deep dive bookstore hunt over a long weekend in our own city. It was marvelous.

[Faith Freewoman]

My solution? A Kindle!

Seriously, about a decade ago I turned out to be extremely allergic to paper, and I actually wept when I took my 5,000+ book library to the library and a used bookstore.

Now I'm a huge fan of Kindle, and, believe it or not, I have nearly 5,000 books on it! And rather than taking all day to reorganize, and having to dust, it's easy-pezy on a Kindle to reorganize, sort by categories, titles and authors at the touch of a finger, and packing? No longer a problem!!!

Faith

[Barbara]

You can get stickers suitable for books from a library supply house. I use Gaylord for my genealogical document storage, but there are others, too. Ask your local librarian for tips on the best suppliers in your region.

[Linda Lou Manwiller]

So...keep in mind this is coming from a retired librarian..
I have bookcases scattered throughout my somewhat small house. Those holding non-fiction are group be subject and then by author. (I have one that is completely for equine titles, one for local history, and two that are general non-fiction.)
I have fiction divided into a bookcase of science fiction/fantasy, one for romance/mystery, one for Patricia Briggs/Terry Pratchett, and one for YA fantasy and once-I-read-it-it-will-be-donated-to-the-library titles. A small book case for church titles and miscellaneous AND six bins of library books and TBRs.
Oh, yes, there are also about 24 boxes in storage...although they have been recently "gone through" and the boxes labeled!

Note: I moved from a house where I have been living for 60+ years - with 17 bookshelves - to my present much smaller home. In doing so, I ended up donating over 1000 books to local libraries and book sales!

[Meg]

Karen, I appreciate your thoughts on organizing, but I wanted to butt in and tell you that I had hand surgery last year for arthritis in the thumb area when holding a book became too painful. It was a major pain-in-the-you-know-where situation for a while - wrist in a cast, physical therapy afterwards, but as soon as I was able to hold a book again, I felt an immediate sense of relief. It might be worth looking into.

[Meg]

Given the current madness of our world, I think suffering from the madness of having too many books is one we can live with. I occasionally try to organize, at least to the extent of keeping books by one author more or less together (favorite authors like Mary Balogh have their own labeled boxes!), but by and large I agree with Kareni: if you can move around the piles without falling down, you're good.

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you for the thought, Meg. I've started to find some books quite uncomfortable too as I have arthritis. It's wonderful to know you have that lovely sense of relief and can now hold a book again!

[Nicola Cornick]

Interesting! When you think about it, I suppose there are more books with spines of blue, green etc than lilac. I'd love to know which are the most numerous. I'm sure someone, somewhere, will have counted...
I LOVE the idea of shelving the ominous titles together. I'm going to go off and think of other themes that might go together. This will be fun!

[Nicola Cornick]

The answer seems to be simply to surrender and enjoy both the chaos (and the rediscovery of favourites) and the indulgent visits to bookstores, doesn't it, Janice. I'm coming around to the idea of just going for it!

[Nicola Cornick]

Oh Faith! Allergic to paper! Thank goodness Kindle came to your rescue. Plus the organising does sound so much more easier and the lack of dust is a big bonus,

[Annette N]

WOW - I have been the entire staff of a small town library and worked in circulation of a very large city library. I understand about books.

I am appalled that someone thought 30 books were enough for anyone. When my children were very young, they each had more than 30 books of their very own.

I give books to other people, the Goodwill store near me and the Salvation Army store near me. I have taken 60 or so books at a time to donate.

I am not sure about how many books are on my 2 kindles. Thousands.

But, I have a simple mind. I have one area of books shelves for non-fiction and the rest for fiction. All are in order alphabetically by author's last name. Anthologies, are by first author listed's last name.

It is pretty easy, if I know I am looking for a book, and can find the author, I can find out where it is in my shelves. I do not worry about topic etc, I am a people person and authors are normally people, so they are the most important thing to me.

In fact, I guess I just realized that an author will tip me in favor of a story or book.

One of my big gripes about films and television any more is writers have been forgotten. They re-do stories or do what is laughingly called reality TV. But, they seldom actually have writers who are writing original and wonderful stories for us. So much is derivative.

Sorry, off topic. I wanted to thank all of you who are also under the spell of the written word as am I. You have given me the knowledge I can hold my head up (right before a stack of books falls on it) and be in good company.

Y'all take care and stay well.

[Nicola Cornick]

Wow, Linda, that book downsizing must have taken some doing. I like your system - thank you for sharing. I've definitely decided to go with a room for local history and will sub-divide into subject and author. This is all great stuff - so helpful!

[Nicola Cornick]

Yes, that is so true - we need to keep a sense of proportion and in a mad world book madness is GOOD!

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Annette! Yes, it's fairly horrific to think that Marie Kondo was recommending a 30 book maximum but then I think she probably didn't understand how bibliophiles feel about books!
Your system is great, and the key is knowing where and how to find things yourself, isn't it. Like you, I've found this debate as inspiring for feeling part of an understanding community as I have for getting cataloguing tips!

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you, Barbara, I will do that.

[nmayer2015]

I have two rooms of book cases of mainly research books. The fiction is mostly in my bedroom. I have books organized roughly by subject but some books have to be on a different shelf because of size. I had started a home catalog but have fallen way too far behind. I looked for a hand held scanner so I could scan the titles into my computer but there were problems with it so I lost that and the money and all the others seem to require handling each book. Also, a few years ago, my son moved in with me and things got jumbled as we made room for his activities. Also, I have a bad tendency of not putting books back where they belong and also have more books than shelves. Lately, it seems I have spent more time trying to find the book I need than reading it. I generally can remember that I have the book but locating it isn't always easy. An ordinary size room isn't really large enough for 14 bookcases of various sizes. I started collecting regency research books before there were many sources on the internet.

[Constance]

Trying to determine if we have even a single bookshelf with only 30 books! Let's give Marie the benefit of the doubt and the use of a not-so-good copy editor and assume she really meant 30,000 books! I must admit that I have a simple system for books I've read, but the TBRs are just everywhere. On Kindle, I have "collections" by author, with some overlaps for a holiday collection. But I only move a book into a collection once it's been read, so the "uncollected" is just a mess - especially since Kindle no longer lets you sort a collection by author. In our small house, fiction and non fiction have different shelves or, in some cases, different bookcases. Jane Austen, in various editions, plus biographies and other commentary, has her own bookcase. Otherwise, fiction is by author and nonfiction is by topic. That seemed best because all my art books seem to be quite large, so the bottom shelf was almost mandatory! My husband just informed me that I have 37 books on my nightstand--those are the best loved and most frequent re-reads. And as I believe I have mentioned here before, he is also the one who claims we do not need insulation along the wall on my side of the bed, as that's where most of the TBR pile(s) reside! Bottom line: chaos can be comforting. Good luck, Nicola!

[Karen]

Yep, I used to look forward to the 20% sales at Half Price Books on Memorial Day & Labor Day weekends; go in & spend several hours, most of it in the romance aisles, get a few dvds & even with the discount, spend a couple hundred. They did have a bag that reads Bibliomaniac on the side--I bought several immediately! Pandemic may have stopped me for a while, but I'll probably give into the urge again this Labor Day!

[Karen]

Thanks, Meg, I'll think about it but am concerned since I live alone & the hand in a cast would be a problem. I had the Carpel Tunnel release surgery in the right hand about 4 years ago, no cast, hand hugely wrapped for a few days, then easy dealing so I could do that--and yeah, the physical therapy was a pain. But cast for a while would be challenging! One good thing, I can still hold a needle for stitching!

[Binnie Syril Braunstein]

Nicola - I freely confess to bibliomania. I have 1000s of romance novels of all kinds. Many are stored in a building nearly adjacent to my house. In the house itself- more romance novels. Books by writers I know and re-read are arranged by section - Mary Jo, Anne Gracie, Pat Rice, Nora Roberts/JD Robb, Diane Gaston, etc. Then there are authors I've discovered and become addicted to (and re-read) such as Sharon Sala and Karen Rose. And about 150 anthologies. Also, new authors are still creating. Sigh. Then, in my office there are hard copy reference books that I still use. And I do have a growing number of books via Kindle. There's also a constranhy growing collection of cookbooks (print an e-format). I guess my mantra should be, "So many books, so little time." And I, too, could NEVER ascribe to Marie Kondo's philosophy.

[Vicki L]

I'm a grouper.....all the nonfiction here - grouped by topic. My Fiction books are grouped by author and if there is room on a shelf for multiple authors, types of romance. IE western, contemporary, paranormal, Scfi, etc. so on and so forth

I'm also a double stacker because of a LACK of bookshelves. So I have a convenient cheat sheet drawn on a piece of notebook paper. It tells me what authors are on each of my double stacked shelves.

TBR...well...on the basement shelves arranged by type. My most current, - floated to the top of the pile, TBR...is in the kitchen by my reading chair. They get resorted by whatever criteria I have going on this week. Grin.

My catalog system is to go to Fan Fiction/Wikipedia or something and print out all the books listed for an author then mark off do I own them. Did I then get rid of them. Did I read them at the library. Do I have them on my kindle. Then holepunch and put the pages in a notebook.

If I'm just trying an author out they don't rate a page in my notebook. If I've decided to go read all an author's backlist they rate a page in my notebook.

I've considered using a cataloging app. Or a spreadsheet but I'm happier with the paper copy. That way I don't have to turn my computer on and I can just haul my notebook to where ever.

I can make notes about the MC for books in a series also...

[Constance]

Ah, yes - the cookbooks…. Mine, my mother’s, my grandmother’s, my aunts’ - plus the bound copies of Gourmet. Most prized are all the church cookbooks!

[Karin]

I just gave away two huge cartons of books. But I definitely have Tsundoku. In fact most of the books in my house are ones I have not read. Once I've read a book, I usually swap it or give it away. The exceptions are if a book is so excellent I know I'll want to reread it, or if it's something unusual, or out of print and not available as an ebook. My books are roughly shelved by fiction(with a separate shelf for mysteries), non-fiction, with a separate shelf for nature guides, gardening books and the like, plus my cookbooks are in the kitchen.

[Nicola Cornick]

Nancy you've mentioned one of my big problems - size! A number of my non-fiction books are just too big to fit with the rest of their category so end up out of sync. There are so many resources available online now that I do wonder if I should keep all my pre-internet reference books; like you I have a lot. But parting with them doesn't feel right.

[Nicola Cornick]

LOL! 30,000 books give me lots more to aim for. I like it! I also like your husband's sense of humor with regard to the insulation. Chaos can be comforting... Yes, I do think that's true. Maybe I never make progress sorting my books because actually I like being surrounded by them.

[Nicola Cornick]

Wonderful! That sounds incredibly comforting and pleasurable to have all those books about you, Binnie. The more I think about this the less I want to get organised! Having bibliomania is to be enjoyed.

[Nicola Cornick]

We've just inherited my mother and my mother-in-law's cook books, so that is several more shelves that are needed!

[Nicola Cornick]

Ooh, A grouper! I like the division by author and type of romance. I've never got on with double-stacking though; it could definitely work with an efficient system like yours, Vicki. You are clearly extremely organised!

[Nicola Cornick]

Karin, I've come around to thinking that tsundoku is definitely a good thing as being surrounded by books, whether we've read them or not, is a good thing. There's something exciting about the unknown content and the opportunity to explore it.

[Karen]

Nicola, it's a common problem in libraries as well, so there's a section for "oversized" which is arranged the same as the rest but with the "oversized" indicated in the location information. I know what you mean about so much available online but sometimes accessing that stuff has to be paid for, or may not be correct. I can't turn loose of my map books yet!

[Mary M.]

Wow, I guess we found out what unites us!

I have dabbled in most of the above, and ya know what I read? The library books, because they have an expiration date! Crazy.

[Nicola Cornick]

Tat makes perfect sense, Mary!

[Nicola Cornick]

That's the drawback with online information, isn't it. it could be behind a paywall or just be plain inaccurate!

The issue of the oversized book is a tricky one!

[Annette N]

I have reread these posts and y'all make me laugh....we are a group of very strange people with a common addiction....and ain't life grand?

[Jeanne Behnke]

You said it Annette N!!

[Suzanna]

Being a retired librarian I arrange my books alphabetically by author for fiction, and in general Dewey order for nonfiction ,(with a few variants due to the size of books and/or shelves).

But I'm reminded of a short story I heard on the radio many years ago,about a disgruntled library assistant who decided to rearrange the books in musical order. Tall books were high notes, short ones low notes, length of notes decided by how thick the books were. At the end they all burst out into happy song.

[Karen]

I laugh that even tho' I'm a librarian by trade, I don't borrow books from the library--they expect me to return them! That's no good--what if I want to read that book at 2 in the morning? They're not open & it may not be available (yet) in ebk format! No, far better to have my own copy sitting somewhere in the house waiting for me to get the urge!

[Karen]

I admit, Suzanna, I'd love to hear that song, but shoot, the work of rearranging all the books...ouch!

[Nicola Cornick]

I do love the idea of books in musical order!

[Melanie B]

I sort my bookshelves by size; small paperbacks go up top, and large hardcovers on the bottom. My kindle is sorted by newest to oldest. Sometimes it can be overwhelming with how many I own in my collection, especially when choosing the next book to read, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

[Nicola Cornick]

It is indeed, Annette!

[Nicola Cornick]

That sounds like a pretty good system, Melanie. I think those of us with big book collections just have to accept it can be a bit overwhelming but definitely worth it!